Simple Chocolate Fruit Tart

A tart that the children would like... I have so many idea's when it comes to tarts and pies for adult taste buds, it is so easy to forget the simple taste buds children have. It was nice to think in plain uncomplicated flavours again, and what is more simple and delicious then a simple chocolate and fruit tart.

1x Pie Shell, parbaked.
200g Chocolate
200ml Cream
Fruit/berries to decorate.

Melt the chocolate and cream for the ganache in a saucepan, chill.
When ganache is firm beat until fluffy.
Spread into cold pie shell.
Decorate with fruit/berries, chill until ready to eat.

Chocolate, Praline and Hazelnut Tart

A chocolate themed cooking competition at Mon Ami, a tart of course, but which one?! After reading some wonderful things about a dark chocolate tart with praline I thought this one might be a lovely idea for the competition.

Alas it only came second, but was a delicious tart nevertheless.

Ingredients
1x Pie Shell, parbaked

160ml Cream
40ml Milk
200gm Chocolate (61% cocoa solids), finely chopped

Milk chocolate praline filling
150gm Hazelnuts, roasted and skins removed
175gm Caster sugar
300ml Cream
400gm Dark chocolate with whole roast hazelnuts, finely chopped

Milk chocolate praline filling

Combine sugar and 60ml water in a small saucepan,
stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves.
Bring to the boil, cook until dark caramel in colour (4-5 minutes), pour over nuts.
Stand until cool and set (8-10 minutes), process in a food processor until finely ground.
Bring cream to the simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat,
add chocolate, stir until smooth, remove from heat,
stir in two-thirds of praline mixture (reserve remaining to serve).
Spoon into pastry case, smooth top, refrigerate until just set (1½-2 hours).

Combine cream and milk in a small saucepan, bring to the simmer over medium-high heat.
Add dark chocolate, remove from heat, stir until smooth.
Spread over tart, refrigerate until just set (45 minutes-1 hour).

Cut into wedges with a hot knife and serve immediately scattered with reserved praline.

White Chocolate and Berry Tart.

I wanted to take a couple of tarts with me to the snow this weekend, so I thought a nice frangipane tart is always a crowd pleaser. White chocolate and red berries is a natural match and would also go superbly with the frangipane mix.

1x Pie shell (21cmx2.5), par-baked

2Cups Berries (I used Raspberries and Boysenberries)
60g White chocolate
2Tbs Cream
1tsp Rosewater
150g Butter, unsalted
150g Caster Sugar
175g Blanched Almonds, ground
2x Eggs, lightly beaten

Melt chocolate and cream in a bain-marie until combined, remove from heat and add rosewater.
Brush over tart shell. Chill until set.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Fold in almonds and eggs.
Spread frangipane mix over the chocolate in tart shell.
Place berries on frangipane mix.
Bake at 180C for 60min.

Cinnamon Cherry and Ginger Mousse Tart

Another delightfully winter pie, delicious dark chocolate pie case with tangy spiced cinnamon cherries topped with an intense ginger infused mousse. Perfect for a cosy night in with a chilled glass of mead.

There may look to be quite a few ingredients but it creates a earthy, tangy slightly sweet cherry mix which compliments the lightly sweet, creamy ginger mousse beautifully.

1x Chocolate pie shell, 20x5cm, baked and brushed with melted dark chocolate.

3 Cups Cherries (Sweet)
3Tbs Port
3Tbs Water
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 Star Anise
2 Cloves
Pinch Salt
6 Twists Pepper (from grinder)
1Tbs Treacle
1tsp Red wine Vinegar
1tsp Rosewater
1tsp gelatin/agar

4cm piece Ginger root, peeled and grated.
300ml Cream
1tsp Ginger powder
1Cinnamon Stick
2Tbs Sugar
2 Eggs, separated

Day One
Combine cherries, port, water, cinnamon, star anise and cloves in a saucepan, simmer gently for 10min.
Add salt, pepper, treacle and vinegar, simmer for a further 5min.
Whisk in rosewater and chill over night.

Combine cream, ginger root and ginger powder in a saucepan and heat very gently for 20min.
Pour into a glass jar with a cinnamon stick and chill overnight to infuse.

Day Two
Drain the liquid from the cherries into a saucepan and heat gently, dissolve gelatin and then add cherries. Leave to cool.
When cool pour into pie shell and chill for an hour.

Pour the ginger infused cream through a sieve, add egg yolks and beat until light and fluffy.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, add one tablespoon of sugar at a time and beat until smooth and glossy.
Fold egg whites through ginger cream 1/3 at a time.
Pour onto chilled cherry mix and chill for a further few hours or overnight.

Chocolate Hazelnut Pavlova Pie

The Pavlova pie has been in the pie notebook for a little while, and was yet to inspire me to do anything further then a quick idea on a page. However this week when I got sent some secret family recipes by my mother, one of which was for pavlova I was suddenly fill of new idea's around the Pavlova pie. I have come up with two versions, a luxurious chocolate hazelnut pavlova pie and also a traditional kiwi inspired pie, the latter will need to wait until kiwifruit and strawberries are back in season!

1x Pie Shell, par-baked (28 x 5cm - I used chocolate sweet short pastry)

Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache
160ml Cream
200gm Dark Chocolate, in small pieces

Cherry Filling
1/2 C Dried Cherries, soaked overnight in 1/4C Kirsch Liqueur
1/2 C Morello Cherries
1tsp Gelatin/Agar
1tsp Vanilla Essence

Pavlova
8 Egg Whites
12Tbs Castor Sugar
2tsp Vinegar
2Dsp Warm Water
140g Hazelnuts, roasted and crushed in mortar and pestle

Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache

Heat cream gently until small bubbles appear on the outside of the pan, do not boil. Pour over chocolate pieces and Frangelico and whisk until melted. Chill.

When cool whip ganache for three minutes, until light and fluffy. Chill.

Cherry Filling
Put dried cherries and Kirsch into a small saucepan with morello cherries and 1/4C water, heat until liquid looks syrupy. Put gelatin/agar into a small bowl and tip out some cherry juice from the pan to dissolve gelatin/agar, tip back into pan with vanilla. Chill.

Pavlova
Beat egg whites till stiff (90sec) add vinegar and water, beat till mixed in. Add sugar 1Tbs at a time, beat for 2min. Fold in hazelnuts.

Tip Pavlova mix into par-baked pie shell, spread evenly leaving a hollow for the filling when cooked. Bake at 150C for 10min, then turn stove off completely for 1hr.
When cool spread Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache around the inside of the pavlova, leaving a pavlova border and a hollow for the Cherry Filling. Chill for 2hrs. Pour Cherry Filling into the centre of the pie. Chill.

The pie didn't have enough pavlova for my liking , as I wanted a layer on the sides and base, so I have doubled the quantity of pavlova. I made a rather large pie, so feel free to adjust the quantity for smaller pies!

Dark Chocolate, Coffee Bean and Caramelised Walnut Tart

1x 21cm Pie Shell, parbaked

200ml Cream

220g Dark Chocolate, in small pieces

2Tbs Liqueur (I used Irish Cream, Whisky or Frangelico would also work well in this one)
1x Shot Espresso
4Tbs Coffee Beans, roasted
1 Egg

2 Tbs Flour
30g Walnut pieces, finely chopped
30g Butter, melted
30g Sugar, brown

1/3C Walnut halves

1Dsp Sugar

Heat cream gently until small bubbles appear on the outside of the pan, do not boil. Pour over chocolate pieces and whisk until melted, add liqueur and espresso. Chill.

When cool whip ganache for two minutes, add egg and whip for two more minutes.

Grind coffee beans and add to ganache with the flour. Fold through.

Mix the walnut pieces, butter and brown sugar to a paste and brush in pie shell, bake at 180C for 10min.

Pour chocolate mix into pie shell and bake at 130C for 20min.

While pie is in the oven put walnuts in a non-stick pan and sprinkle with the sugar, cook until glossy and golden, 4 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan continuously. Set aside.

After 20min carefully pull pie out and arrange walnuts decoratively over the pie.

Cook for a further 15min or until set.

I decorated my tart with a sesame glaze, pure indulgence!

Chocolate Mousse & Orange Blossom Tart

What could be a more appropriate pie for an easter baking competition at work then chocolate. I thought a dense dark chocolate mousse would go deliciously with tangy marmalade and fragrant orange blossom water. The judges must have agreed as they gave it first place!

Ingredients

1x Pie Shell, I used 21cm

2-3 Tbs Orange Marmalade

300g Dark Chocolate

3 Eggs, separated

pinch Salt
1/2 tsp Orange Blossom Water

100g Dark Chocolate, coarsely grated

Bake pie shell for 15min at 180C until golden, while warm spread marmalade over pie base.
Melt 300g chocolate over bain marie until 80% melted, remove from heat and stir until all melted.
Whip egg whites until soft peaks form, add salt and whip until smooth and glossy with stiff peaks.
Add a scoop of egg whites to the melted chocolate and fold in.
Add the egg yolks to the melted chocolate.
Continue folding the egg whites into the melted chocolate until all gone.
Add the orange blossom water to the mix.Cool, then add the grated chocolate.
Pour into pie shell and refrigerate overnight to set.

Chocolate, Banana Meringue Pie

A twist on the traditional banoffee pie, my love of chocolate combined with banana's, strawberries and topped with luscious meringue.

1x Pie Shell
100g Cream
200g dark Chocolate, broken into pieces.
2x Bananas, sliced
1 handful of Strawberries, sliced
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar
4x Egg whites
4 Tbs Sugar

Heat cream and pour over chocolate in a bowl, stir until chocolate is melted, cool.
Whip chocolate ganache until light, spread in pie shell.
Place sliced banana and strawberries on chocolate ganache, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
Whip egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks, spread over pie.
Bake for 10min at 220C or until meringue is golden.

Plum & Chocolate Mousse Pie

The weather has chilled this week, Autumn is well on the way. Plums are ample and I thought 5-spice would work wonderfully with plums and apples paired with dark chocolate mousse.

1 x Pie Shell
8 x Plums (I used Omega), chopped
1 x Apple, chopped
1 tsp 5-spice powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Sugar (any type)
1 x Vanilla Pod, seeds
200g 70%+ Chocolate, broken into pieces
2 x Egg Yolks
Pinch Salt
4 x Egg Whites
2 tsp Castor Sugar

Mix plums, apples, 5-spice, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla in an oven dish. Bake at 180C until soft (20min)
Melt chocolate in a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water, remove when 80% melted and stir till all chocolate is melted.
Whisk egg whites, when stiff add sugar and whisk until smooth.
Whisk in egg yolks and salt to melted chocolate. Add 1/3 egg whites and mix well.
Carefully fold in remaining egg whites.
Spread cooled plum mix into base of pie. Top with chocolate mousse and grate lemon zest/chocolate over pie! Chill for an hour or overnight to set mousse.

Feel free to vary the amount of fruit and mousse depending on the size of your pie, I used a 21cm pie shell.

Sad Red Strawberry Tart

After spending a weekend with a lovely man in Sydney I was returning home to Wellington, feeling rather bewildered and sad. I started thinking of strawberries, so fresh and romantic - crushed with the sadness of being apart....

1 x Pie Shell
150g Dark Chocolate
100g Cream
2 Cups Fresh Strawberries, chopped
1 Tbs Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tbs Fresh Mint, chopped
1 Tbs Icing Sugar
2 Tbs Kirsch Liquor

Bake the pie shell for 15min at 180 C
Crush strawberries, balsamic, mint, icing sugar, and kirsch together.
Leave to mingle for 30min.
Melt chocolate and cream together. Smooth into pie shell to cover base and sides, refrigerate until set.
Drain strawberry mix in a sieve, retain liquid.
Spread strawberries over the pie base.
Reduce liquid to a syrup. Drizzle over tart.
Grate dark chocolate and sprinkle fresh mint over top of tart.

Enjoy with friends and a nice glass of wine!